"An anomaly? What an anomaly?" Yun Wei asked in confusion. In his view, Isaac was no different from before.
The handsome knight was still pale and cold, seemingly still in a state between life and death.
“Hmm…it’s not easy to describe. The power of the curse seems to have dissipated, but its effects still remain.” Isaac thought for a moment and then extended his hand to Yun Wei. “Why don’t you come and take a look for yourself?”
Yun Wei nodded, and without hesitation, he grasped Isaac's hand and closed his eyes.
Having learned from his previous experience, he entered Isaac's mental world without any trouble.
The upside-down bicolor oak tree was still lush and leafy, but it no longer resembled a lonely dandelion. It had gained a majestic air, though its crown was dim and lacked luster.
It floats quietly on the clear and boundless sea of spirit, with specks of silver light drifting down from the gaps between the branches, turning into a soft halo that adorns the entire space.
"Wait a minute, Isa... you're already a high-level sixth rank?" Yun Wei habitually counted the other party's Time Branches, but was surprised to find that only the branch representing a seventh-rank professional was not lit up.
“Not just me, you are too.” The miniature Isaac replied with a smile, but led Yun Wei on a flying duck toward the roots of the golden-red branches. “Follow me.”
"Huh?... Ah, when did I become a Archmage?" Yun Wei was somewhat surprised, looking at the six complete layers of the Branch of Time that appeared on the back of his hand. When he woke up, he only felt weak and full of magic power, but he didn't notice at all that he had actually broken through in his sleep.
The knight in front shook his head helplessly, but smiled without saying a word.
Looking at Isaac leading the way above, Yun Wei guessed that this was probably because the other party had been modified by that blood-red unknown power.
Just like when he first made a contract with Isaac, who had just awakened, he experienced a breakthrough. The crimson power strengthened Isaac's strength, and through the contract between the two, his magic power also increased.
However, he wondered what price he would have to pay for this unexpected gift. Yun Wei's gaze sharpened, and his heart grew heavy.
He looked around. It seemed to be a space unaffected by gravity, yet his mental sea had formed a tranquil surface below. Yun Wei couldn't help but think of the extraction experiment.
Perhaps the invisible air in his eyes is another kind of 'ether', different from the spiritual sea below.
As he clumsily paddled along, following Isaac to the base of the other's Time Branch, which was entwined like a coiled dragon, he was stunned by the enormous stone-like disc that came into view.
The stone slab was about the size of a carriage and was tightly entwined by tree roots. Yun Wei moved closer and examined it carefully, finding that its edges were very smooth and flat, and its thickness was about twenty centimeters.
"You mean, this stone disc is the curse?" Yun Wei asked incredulously. The object looked more like a large millstone or the dial of a sundial.
“At first, it was a blood-red mist, shrouded in filthy black mud, constantly echoing with grating whispers,” Isaac recalled. “But now, the black mud is gone, the blood mist has dissipated, and the curse has become what it is now. However… I feel like there’s something new in my mind, like a secret about blood.”
Upon hearing this, Yun Wei fell into thought. In Isaac's description, the black mud that echoed with whispers undoubtedly came from the abyss, but he didn't believe that the abyss would be so kind as to help him save Isaac.
That crimson power clashed head-on with Dilis's divine power...
He suddenly remembered the infected he had seen outside the thick fog in Applefield before—the bitten peasant woman, the corpse child, and the knight—who had also instantly transformed into zombies after the priest's divine revelation.
So--
At the very least, we can conclude that the divine power of the Lord of Radiance is incompatible with the power of the undead, the power of the corpse puppet, and the power of blood red. Once they come into contact, a violent reaction will occur.
What these three have in common is that they are all forces from outside the Continent of Elements.
Thinking of this, Yun Wei slowly pondered and said, "Then, Isa, I have at least two questions to ask you now."
"The first question is, how were you cursed back then? And what exactly happened during the War of the Glorious?"
Isaac gave Yun Wei a deep look, sighed, and slowly began to tell his story: "Do you remember the Lord of Chaos that I mentioned outside Red Moon City? My most glorious achievement in my life was defeating the Lord of Chaos, Maistak, with a mortal body."
"Eight hundred years ago, at the foot of Mount San Moriti, the Lord of Chaos suddenly launched an attack..."
As Isaac spoke in a gentle, deep voice, Yun Wei seemed to gradually see the long-buried past more clearly:
Eight hundred years ago, the Lord of Chaos, Maystark, launched a blatant invasion of the weakest point in the plane.
At that time, the mountains and rivers were shattered, the sun and moon were without light, heaven and earth were in disarray, and the four seasons were out of order.
As mentioned before, the Lord of Chaos made thorough preparations when invading the Continent of Elements. Almost immediately after launching the invasion, he banished the Temu Brown family, who had replaced the First Dynasty as the guardians of the Continent of Elements, to the gaps in time.
With their domineering ability to multiply infinitely upon contact with the corresponding element, the chaotic creatures quickly began their massive expansion across the element-rich continent of Zhuyuan, starting from the Holy Mountain.
In contrast, human society as a whole has fallen into a state of chaos, suffering from both immense disasters and the loss of its rulers.
At this critical juncture, Isaac, who had rushed back from the far north, led the court mages of Moonflower City and the warriors of the Red Moon Legion to weave an unbreakable defensive line around the foot of Mount Saint Moriti.
They fought valiantly, day and night, to repel the endless stream of chaotic creatures attempting to advance northward.
During the stalemate, Isaac implored his only close friend at the time, Dilis, to go to the Golden Plains and the Reflecting Water Marsh to gather the other two legions to come to his aid. Considering the dwindling supplies and battle losses at the time, the two agreed that they must meet in July.
But Isaac, fighting valiantly, did not receive any reinforcements. By the beginning of July, the Red Moon Legion had suffered more than half its casualties, its morale had collapsed, and seeing that humanity's defenses were about to fall, he ventured deep into enemy territory alone and engaged in a duel with Maistak.
The battle lasted for a full fourteen days.
When he finally beheaded his enemy at dawn, stepping over the corpses of countless comrades, a blood-red mist forcefully invaded his body through his numerous wounds, accompanied by the enemy's vicious curse as his head rolled off the ground.
His vision turned bloodshot, and a bloodthirsty, brutal desire spread through his heart, while his reason struggled to resist it.
Just then, a holy white light swept in from behind him.
The sudden divine power knocked him, who was already exhausted, to the ground. He turned around in disbelief and saw Dilis, who had become a god, standing mercifully amidst the mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
Then, he was sealed in the sacred artifact "The Coffin of Immortality" and fell into an eight-hundred-year slumber.
That day has since become the Red Moon Festival, a day for the people of the Zhuyuan Continent to commemorate the great achievements of the Radiant Lord.
“You know what? My hatred for him doesn’t actually come from his sneak attack on me, sealing me away, or from his failure to keep his promise…” Isaac said with a bitter smile, a hint of mockery on his resolute face. “You know, when we first met, we shared the same ideal: to prevent any god from being born on the Continent of Elements.”
"Hmm? A deity has appeared... Is there anything wrong with that?" Yun Wei asked, puzzled.
The light emanating from the Branch of Time was warm and gentle. As the other party vividly described the past, the magician from another world couldn't help but grasp the servant's cold hand.
“Ah, of course. Gods accept the worship of mortals, seize the power of their faith, and transport living beings to the divine kingdom within their divine bodies… In essence, the gods are constantly drawing power from this world,” Isaac patiently explained.
His voice was filled with sorrow, yet his eyes remained resolute, as if he had finally made up his mind to confront the festering wound beneath the unhealed scar.
"The gods will become more and more powerful, while the planes will gradually decline."
"The Temu Brown family swore an oath to protect the continent of the elements, and as a magician, Dilis originally believed in the conservation of elements."
"We both abhor the existence of God. And this is precisely the cornerstone of our friendship."
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